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WSDOT “pretty confident” in SR 99 tolling analysis

Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn held this news conference Thursday to poke holes in the state’s estimates on how much money would be raised with tolls on a future tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

McGinn says that with no difference in travel times between using surface streets or the tunnel to get through downtown, drivers won’t have an incentive to pay a toll to use the tunnel. He estimates that only about 26,000 vehicles would use the tunnel per day, short of the state’s projections.

The state has agreed to spend $2.4 billion, plus $400 million from tolling to build the deep-bore tunnel. McGinn thinks it will cost more.

Ron Paananen, project manager for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement, however, said Thursday the state estimates that with tolling, about 60,000 vehicles per day would use the tunnel. About 85,000 vehicles would use it without tolls, he said.

Paananen agreed that travel times wouldn’t be that much different if drivers have both a tunnel and a new Alaskan Way surface street to choose from. But rush-hour traffic would push more drivers into the tunnel, he said. WSDOT tested tolls of $2.30 in one direction in the tunnel and $4.20 in the other during peak hours, when traffic is heaviest. Off-peaking tolling would be around 85 cents, he said.

“I can tell you there were volumes of work behind what we did. We feel pretty confident in the methodology and the analysis,” he said.

WSDOT is completing a more thorough analysis based on more recent traffic modeling. Four tolling scenarios have been sent to the state Treasurer’s Office for evaluation, he said.

“You may look at the tunnel option and your trip times aren’t that much different between the surface street and the tunnel. But you take the tunnel away, your travel times will go up significantly,” he said.

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